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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23600476">Trusting Each Other</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzlDragon/pseuds/PuzlDragon'>PuzlDragon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Trust [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargate SG-1, Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Fluff, Goa'uld (Stargate), Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies Romance, M/M, Parasites, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 00:47:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23600476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzlDragon/pseuds/PuzlDragon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Side one-shots to my SG-1/Yugioh crossover. Will feature fluffy moments, family chaos, some charater introspection that doesn't fit in the plot.</p><p>Will add tags as chapters are posted.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi | Atem</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Trust [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Trusting Each Other</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Atem has bad days. Some are worse than others. Being in multiple wars and witnissing thousands of years of atrocities will do that. They, those painful moments, seep into his bones and tear at his mind. </p><p>But Yuugi is there by his side. A nightlight to scare away the monsters of what once was.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I Am Not Venting Through Atem. I Repeat, I Am Not Venting Through Atem.</p><p>I Am Not Expressing A Currently Unfixable Longing For Closeness Through Atem. I Am Not-</p><p>(Please join my new discord for Yugioh! For writing, memes, and enjoing the show :D<br/>https://discord.gg/HuXWje<br/>Psst, it's named KuriBros because I'm a dork.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Atem feels like groaning the moment he wakes up. But he doesn't. He doesn't groan, or stretch, or curl into the last vestiges of sleep.</p><p>Atem doesn't do anything. Nothing but stare.</p><p>Somewhere, in the chambers of his penthouse, a clock is ticking. Several, in fact. Most were digital, but a couple were not. They tick. They tick, and they tick, and they tick.</p><p>Moments passing by like heartbeats, immeasurable and indistinct, like the ceiling above him. He stares in a daze - but entirely aware. He can't move, not from a restriction of his body, or a lack of ability, but of the unexisting energy within.</p><p>Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Isis had once said. She was one of the scientists of the Millennium Court that had become the Sennan Clan. (How original, they know.) Being proficient in biology, she had served as the doctor of the group throughout the years. A normal human practice was unaware of alien biology - and should remain so. </p><p>But mentally? There was no telling what the normal differences was between Human and Goa'uld behaviors. The dramatic, and usually volatile species was difficult to get a baseline. And they never were normal. Experiments could hardly be a good baseline...but they knew enough. Flashbacks and depression make hard days worse. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Isis had once said. Therapy? No therapist would believe you - or keep the secrets.</p><p>Atem didn't have difficult days a majority of the time. Not even fifty percent. He was coping, and as the years went by, they went down. But they were <em>enough</em>.</p><p>He lies there. Floating. As immeasurable moment by immeasurable moment goes by. Tick, tick, tick.</p><p>The light changes. Sometime, somehow. East  and west and light flows past. The back of his mind says he could tell what time it was from the angle. From the windows. He can't make the connection. He can't connect anything. His limbs are heavy. His eyelids are heavy. He wishes to close them. He can't.</p><p>His heart is slow. His breathing is heavy. Shallow. He feels like lead, and floating all at once. He is here, and there, and five centimeters to the right all at once. Dissociation, his mind says. Depression, says another part. Both at once, most like. Distantly, he feels moisture drying on his cheeks. From him?</p><p>Tick, tick, tick.</p><p>A key clicks in the lock. The creak of a door that needs oiling splits through his head. The shuffle of discarded shoes in the genkan.</p><p>"I'm home!" A soft voice calls. Warmth, he identifies. It fills his insides like a fire whose kindling has been ignited, sweeping into his heart and pushing out the ice that had existed in his insides. He relishes in it desperately, like he had set a fire on a freezing night.</p><p>He hadn't known his heart was cold.</p><p>He wishes to respond, but he is still nowhere, and everywhere all at once. There is a pause, and rustling, and a clunk of movement. He can't hear the ticking under it all. Slow footsteps approach and arrive at his bedroom, the careful, steady knocks at his door.</p><p>"Atem? Atem, I saw your motorcycle. And your computer. And coat. And...everything else, really." There is a pause. It stretches. It is quiet.</p><p>Through the insidious silence, Atem can hear ticking.</p><p>"Atem, I'm coming in," rings out determined, but soft. Respectful. The door swings open slowly, giving time if he wished to protest. There is no real barriers between them. Only consideration. Yuugi is not worried Atem will protest, only gives him the chance.</p><p>And in he walks, a short, young adult with muscles on his slim frame. Undefeatable baby fat decorates his cheeks. His gelled straight spikes and punk attire clashes with it. His large eyes shine with determination and knowing concern. </p><p>The frost freezing Atem's lungs and making his breaths hard, his limbs heavy, deteriorates at the sight of it. Of him.</p><p>But Atem still cannot move, the well of his energy feels as if it dried up two summers ago during a drought. It is cracked and empty, desperate but unable to accept any offering in full. Even the sight of his beloved is a harsh shock to his system. His eyes burn once again, his cheeks layered with more moisture. With great difficulty, he turns his head back to the ceiling.</p><p>He cannot tolerate the shock to his system.</p><p>Another, perhaps, would be angered or insulted by Atem's behavior on his harshest days. Baffled, perhaps. But Yuugi has never failed to be a balm. For both his cracked mind and battered heart. Yuugi accepts and adapts as he does to everything - with steady determination and bountiful care. A miracle of a man.</p><p>Ever since Shimon took him to that game tournament to introduce him to his 'favorite grandson' (and Yuugi bested him before Shimon could do so), Yuugi has been a source of steady blessings and delightful surprises. Quickly, Atem the forever flirt and bachelor found himself with Yuugi. A human mate. Unthinkable. And he does not know what he would do without him.</p><p>Even now, Yuugi waits patiently in the doorframe. Within a moment he had analyzed the situation, and bides his time. Then he slowly approaches, steps soft and steady. To let Atem adjust. Then he sits on the bed beside him. Reaches up to his face. Not turning, not demanding for his eyes to meet. Just there. Yuugi brushes aside the wet residing there. He hums softly.</p><p>"You here with me, starshine?" It takes a few moments. Or maybe minutes. Maybe hours. Time is an ineffable concept to him now. But Atem nods his head. Yuugi hums.</p><p>"Alright, starshine." And Yuugi sits there with him. Maybe everything is still messed up. Maybe the directions are all one and the same. But the room is warm.</p><p>Eventually, sometime later, Yuugi gets up. He kisses Atem's head.</p><p>"I'll be back, 'tem." He goes off, out the door. The is noise. Bangs and shuffles, clatter and whooshes. It's still warm, the radiance of his lover's fire emanating through the open door. He relaxes in it. His heavy eyelids droop. When he comes to, Yuugi is puttering at the desk. He's plugging in cords and shuffling papers. Atem is propped semi-upright upon pillows. Before him is a tray. A bowl of food is wrapped in a towel and has a lid on it. To keep it warm. Atem wonders if it was necessary. Yuugi radiates living sunshine. Atem's heart feels like boiling. He no longer feels so not-himself, but he still feels drained and arid.</p><p>Upon his nightstand is a file. He shuffles through it. It's the financial papers for the clan. He keeps them - and their identities - smooth and going. Looks after them all, from original court member, to descendent, spouse, or foster child. Even beloved pets. Normally, like yesterday, this requires only slight concentration. Now, the letters swim before him like fibers in a carpet. Distinct, but meaningless and incomprehensible. He puts the file back.</p><p>He looks over at Yuugi. He hunches at Atem's desk with his laptop. He's frowning grumpily at some code from his work at KaibaCorp. His bottom lip sticks out in a dramatic pout and his brow is pinched in mountains. If Atem makes a joke about that bottom lip, he knows Yuugi will turn and smile gleefully at him. Yuugi will make a cheeky remark in good nature.</p><p>But Atem's well is still drained. He settles for the knowledge that his love is here, saturating the room with his care. He breathes, in and out, his breaths un-weighted and deep. The interspersed clacking of keys and discontented grumbling hides the clock ticking and the shadows of horrors long passed. Eventually, he lifts the lid. Ta'amiya.</p><p>"There's more in the kitchen. Eat up." Yuugi may be turned away, but he's always attentive.</p><p>"Thank you," he replies softly. It will never be enough. The light that Yuugi has brought into the deep caverns of his bad days can never be matched. He doesn't think he can ever explain it. He opens his mouth. Closes it. His head might feel like it's back on his shoulders, but it's empty of ways to express his gratitude.</p><p>"You know I love you, right?" Atem looks up into eyes more beautiful then the sky, deeper then the ocean depths. More brilliant than all the gems and gold Atem has seen in his life, glowing more than all the supernovas he has seen.</p><p>He feels unbalanced again. But not from a bad way. He feels like he is weighed down with all the warmth Yuugi has layered across him like gentle blankets. Like his arms cannot hold it all, his mind unable to contain it. He swallows around the clog in his throat.</p><p>"I love you, too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story is part of the <a href="https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject">LLF Comment Project</a>, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:</p><ul>
<li>Short comments</li>
<li>Long comments</li>
<li>Questions</li>
<li>Constructive criticism</li>
<li>“&lt;3” as extra kudos</li>
<li>Reader-reader interaction</li>
</ul><p>
  <a href="https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/post/170952243543/now-presenting-the-llf-comment-builder-beta">LLF Comment Builder</a>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This author replies to comments.</p><p>If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (sometimes I feel shy when I’m reading and not up to starting a conversation, for example), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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